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1. Why COBOL ?

  • 1.1 Isn't COBOL obsolete ?
  • 1.2 Do we need a free COBOL compiler ?

    • 2. Do we need a free COBOL compiler ?
  • 2.1 Why has no one created a free COBOL so far ?

    • 1. Why COBOL ?

  • 1.1 Isn't COBOL obsolete ?

    • Although developed more than 3 decades ago, COBOL is still one of the most widely used computer languages. The investment in COBOL by government and industry is significant.

    Here are some statistics to put it in perspective:
  • COBOL is used in 60-70 percent of business applications.
  • There are 80-100 billion lines of COBOL code in active use.
  • Two billion new lines of COBOL code are developed each year.
  • One million programmers use COBOL.


    • As PC's have gained power and speed, organizations of all sizes are evaluating moving mission critical applications from mainframes to client server systems running on micros. Rather than losing years worth of proven COBOL code, organizations can retrieve their investments by porting COBOL code to run on micro OS's such as Linux.

    2. Do we need a free COBOL compiler ?

  • 2.1 Why has no one created a free COBOL so far ?


    • Yes. The freeware community would benefit from such an effort.

    While COBOL can be considered functionally simple, it has a huge syntax (grammar), in comparison with more modern languages. The sheer size of the grammar makes creating a compiler a large and difficult task.

    Do you have any question you would like to see added to this list ?

    If so, send an e-mail to Rildo Pragana , or make a suggestion on the Tiny COBOL mailing list.

    A complete list of COBOL's FAQ can be found here, and an older list can be found here.


     
    Last modified : June 12, 2000